Particle detector

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is an example of a large particle detector. Notice the person for scale.

In experimental and applied particle physics, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify high-energy particles, such as produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a particle accelerator. Modern detectors are also used as calorimeters to measure energy of the detected radiation. They may also be used to measure other attributes such as momentum, spin, charge etc. of the particles.

1 Description
- 1.1 Examples and types
- 1.2 Modern detectors
2 Installations of particle detectors
- 2.1 At colliders
- 2.2 Without colliders
3 See also
4 External articles and references

[edit] Description

Detectors designed for modern accelerators are huge, both in size and in cost. The term "counter" is often used instead of detector, when the detector counts the particles but does not resolve its energy or ionization. Particle detectors usually can also track ionizing radiation (high energy photons or even visible light). If their main purpose is radiation measurement, they are called radiation detector, but as photons can also be seen as (massless) particles, the term particle detector is still correct.

[edit] Examples and types

'Types of particle detectors

The detectors invented and used so far may be broadly divided into three families as follows:

Ionization detectors
- Gas Ionization detectors
- Liquid Ionization detectors
- Solid Ionization detectors
Scintillation detectors
Semiconductor detectors

Examples